“2017 will show us that limited deployments are technically, legally, and socially possible, even under today’s laws,” says Bryant Walker Smith, a professor at the University of South Carolina.

The cars themselves, with their distinctive sensor rigs mounted onto their rooftops, will be most visible as they putter down our roads. Behind the scenes, their makers are hurrying to iron out the technical, regulatory, and economic details needed so that one day somewhat soon, most of us will get to take our stupendously fallible meat gloves off the wheel.

By 2035, 12 million fully autonomous units could be sold a year globally, and the market for partially and fully autonomous vehicles is expected to leap from about $42 billion in 2025 to nearly $77 billion in 2035. By 2035, autos with autonomous vehicle features are expected to capture 25% of the new car market.